| Sumario: | A fascinating glimpse into the full impact of 9/11 on America's psyche, War of Words takes a critical look at the strategic use of language to create a series of national transformations. A terrorist attack became an "act of war," requiring commensurate response. The President, until then the butt of national jokes, ascended to Commander in Chief, while the leader of the city we love to hate became "America's mayor." TV ads for cars and clothing featured flags and firemen, showing that consumerism is patriotism. With a keen ear for the hidden messages in our national stories, Sandra Silberstein unearths the dark side of this patriotic rhetoric, including the attacks on those who question U.S. policy and the denunciation of liberal intellectuals by the conservative American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Timely and penetrating, War of Words shows how the stories we told after the attacks fashioned a post-9/11 American identity and reinscribed our national beliefs.
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